Nevertheless, the band had initially been wary of the song’s huge commercial potential – for a while afterwards some of them would refuse to play it live – but Cornell notes that the song’s innate strangeness meant that “‘Black Hole Sun’ didn’t seem to corner us or create a problem, it provided a moment when a lot of eyes and ears were on us. Soundgarden were the first band from the late-’80s Seattle scene to sign to a major label, although having dutifully polished their craft opening for the likes of Guns N’ Roses, the colossal success enjoyed by Pacific Northwest peers like Nirvana and Pearl Jam had so far eluded them: “the sound of the underground going overground,” as bassist Ben Shepherd puts it.īut “Black Hole Sun” was a grimy psychedelic behemoth, inescapable on radio and especially on MTV, thanks to what songwriter Chris Cornell calls a “comically interesting video”. It was also the song that brought Soundgarden a level of success that was long overdue. With its moody refrain, hypnotic melody and gorgeous arpeggios, Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” seemed to chime with the spirit of the times. Originally published in Uncut’s August 2014 issue (Take 207).Ī couple of weeks after Kurt Cobain’s suicide, a strange, sombre piece of American heavy rock hit the charts. “That’s what people connected with, the sound that is the result of a band effort,” says Chris Cornell.
A sombre, psychedelic ballad that became an international summer smash for the Seattle grunge rockers in 1994.
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